AFTER completing the entrance exam to high school over the weekend, 15-year-old Zhang Tingting didn’t get a rest. Instead she started to take courses to prepare for the international curriculum, which was first approved in 21 Shanghai high schools in April.

The international curriculum, officially launched in 11 public schools and 10 private schools, aims to open a door for students who want to go abroad and be exposed to coursework that meets international standards.

“I’m confident with the exam, but I’m worried about whether I can catch on in future learning,” said Zhang, who will be admitted to studying international curriculum at a local public school in September if she passes at least the minimum score on pre-admission exam.

Zhang chose a public school over a private one because the tuition is cheaper and her family is far from wealthy. However, she worries that the teaching quality at public schools may not be as strong as at private schools, given the limited resources.

Shanghai began to pilot international courses at local high schools in 2010. At that time, the tuition at public schools and private schools was about the same. Last year, the Shanghai Education Commission began regulating the market and scrutinized the standards for running international curriculum programs after parents complained that some schools weren’t run very well.

In April, the Education Commission announced 21 high schools out of 33 that were examined were qualified to teach the international curriculum. The 12 schools that didn’t pass the examination were not allowed to recruit new students.

Tuition fee cuts

Along with the announcement, the tuition for international curriculum class at public schools was reduced dramatically. Tuition fees at public schools ranges from 1,500 yuan (US$180) to 5,000 yuan per semester, while the tuition at private high schools goes from 65,000 yuan to 100,000 yuan, according to a Shanghai Daily investigation.

“The tuitions at public school were reduced so much because local educational authorities want to make it available for everyone,” Tang Guansheng, principal of Luwan Senior High School, told the Oriental Morning Post.

Luwan, for example, reduced tuition from 70,000 yuan per semester last year to 2,400 yuan this year. The school opened the international courses class two years ago, focusing on teaching Canada’s British Columbia High School Program.

Tang said the gap between the past and present tuition would be covered by government allocations to ensure teaching quality remains the same. But he admitted “the cost of international curriculum is too high.”

In the past two years, the government has invested 1 million yuan in Luwan Senior High School, though the tuition was 70,000 yuan over that time. Nevertheless, Tang said the school was still losing money.

Tang’s situation is echoed by most heads of the 11 public schools. But the principals also have divided opinions on government allocations.

“The international program at public schools is non-commercial. I believe it will run steadily with stable government allocations,”  said a teacher, who declined to give her name, at Shanghai Shixi High School, the first public school to start an International Baccalaureate Diploma Program.

A teacher surnamed Xu, with Shanghai Datong Senior High School, said “Isn’t it good news that the city government is paying tuitions for parents?”

The school runs the PGA (Project of Global Access) Program and has reduced the tuition from 40,000 yuan last year to 1,500 yuan this year.

However, other principals as well as some parents are skeptical about long-term support from the government.

“I don’t believe the city government will subsidize the program forever,” said Lin Qian, who has a 15-year-old son.

Many parents and students echo those concerns, taking the perspective that “no good goods are cheap.”

To find the best schools for her son, Lin attended numerous information sessions at both public and private high schools for the international curriculum.

“They all sounded good, but I’d rather pay more to ensure the teaching quality that I can see,” Lin said, adding that the family wouldn’t mind spending more at high schools since they have prepared to spend millions of yuan for the boy to study at overseas universities.

Wang Jing, mother of a 15-year-old girl, said she chose private schools because she heard foreign teachers at public schools were not native English speakers.

“The quality of foreign teachers is very important. If the school doesn’t have enough money, how can they attract the best teachers?”

According to the Oriental Morning Post, a parent had complained that a public school changed 10 foreign teachers in one year due to problems regarding visas and the teachers themselves.

“Foreign teachers usually have a high mobility rate because they value salary and benefits more than local teachers do,” said Tang.

High mobility of foreign teachers

But foreign teachers are more experienced, and Chinese teachers are learning from them so that they can use what they learn to reform the local curriculum, which is the ultimate goal of the Shanghai Education Commission, Tang said.

Teachers’ salaries, especially those of foreign teachers, was the single biggest cost of the international curriculum, according to heads of the 21 high schools.

According to the schools, the monthly salary of foreign teachers is at least 20,000 yuan, excluding return tickets, insurance, accommodation and other benefits. Meanwhile, some teachers ask the schools to pay for various family expenditures, as well, adding to the cost.

Also, many foreign teachers quit because they want to experience different cities in China and the world, said a teacher surnamed Huang of Weiyu High School.

Despite all the problems, Tang said public schools have their own advantages, such as long history, good reputation and experience undertaking new projects.

“As a famous high school, we won’t sacrifice our reputation to run the international curriculum program because we still have many other students who are not in the program,” said a teacher of Shixi High School.

The teacher said the ultimate goal of the program is to improve the teaching standards and curriculum of local schools to benefit more students. In that regard, local teachers are more important than foreign teachers to the school.